A new, British study involving over 900 medical cannabis patients has found that the plant can improve a patient’s quality of life.
Using the EQ-5D-5L rating, which is used as the standard to quantify the wellbeing of patients with serious conditions such as cancer, Project Twenty21 was launched in 2019 to study the effects medical cannabis can have on a patient’s quality of life. Data from the study confirmed that patients who entered the trial were in poorer health than the general population going into the trial.
Most of the patients admitted to the trial were prescribed cannabis for chronic pain, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), multiple sclerosis, substance use disorder, Tourette’s syndrome and epilepsy. Every patient enrolled had at least two “failed treatments” on their medical record, where commonly prescribed medications had little to no effect on a patient’s condition.
The study found a 51 percent increase in a patient’s self-reported health and ability to lead a normal life. Medical cannabis made improvements and helped patients manage secondary conditions such as anxiety and depression. Patients also self-reported that they no longer felt the need to turn to criminality, with 63 percent reporting they no longer felt the need to turn to illegal use to manage their condition.
“A lack of clinical evidence has made it difficult for doctors to confidently prescribe legal medical cannabis in the UK. These new findings provide a major step forward, and help to clarify the benefit these medicines can have for thousands of seriously ill patients,” Project leader of Twenty21 Professor David Nutt from Drug Science, said.
Researchers at the University of Sydney have also recently launched a study to see how medical cannabis can affect the quality of life of patients. The Quality of Life Evaluation Study (QUEST Initiative) plans to look at patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in patients prescribed medical cannabis and compare them with other PROs reported by patients who use medical cannabis for different medical conditions.
